Philosopher's Duelist
by snowpenguin55
Summary: A boy lost his father to the darkness. He made a promise as an alchemist to get him back. With his rare deck in hand he goes to central duel academy to fulfill that promise. i suck at summaries. please review. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1 Alchemist's Promise

**Here is the first chapter of my first serious fic. Please review! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh Gx, but I do own the characters used here.**

Chapter 1

Alchemist's Promise

_10 years ago_

The stars were bright in the inky black of the night sky and fireflies danced over the long grass of a meadow. The air smelled of summer. A sudden explosion caused the fireflies to scatter away from the source of the noise. In the middle of the meadow were two people, one was a man of about twenty and the other was a young boy of no more than five. The man had wild red hair and eyes that matched. He was dressed in a black t-shirt with blue jeans and black boots. On his arm was an Academy duel disc. The boy had short black hair that was well kept and frosty blue eyes. He was dressed in a navy blue windbreaker and brown cargo shorts with white sneakers. On the young one's arm was a Battle City duel disc.

The field stood like this. On the boy's side was Des Koala (1100/1800) in face up defense mode. There were no spells or traps on his field, he had one card in his hand, and he only had 1000 life points left. On the man's side there was one Giant Orc (2200/0) in attack mode, two card face down, four cards in his hand, and he had 7000 life points. It was the boy's turn.

The young man's face fell as he eyed his two cards. The man yawned in a smug way and said, "Hurry up, boy, I haven't got all night." The boy growled at him and yelled, "Shut up! I will beat you and get my daddy's soul back!" The man chuckled and replied "Foolish little boy, even if you do get Dr. Hirosh's soul back it won't matter. I have already turned his body over to my master."

The boy began to sob and shake and shouted, "No! You're lying!" He slapped a card on his disc and a horizontal back card appeared. "One monster in face down defense mode! Turn over." The man chuckled as he drew his next card and glanced at it before he inserted it into his spell and trap card zone. "I activate a spell card called Storm of Meteors. It destroys all cards on the field and inflicts 300 points of damage to each of us for each card destroyed. So that means I win, tough luck brat." As the man said this all cards on the field were shattered into pixels and a barrage of fireballs slammed from the sky into both duelists. The man barely flinched but the boy got blown back into the air and landed a few feet away.

As the young boy's counter hit zero he hunched over on the ground crying his poor little heart out. The man walked over to him and said in false sympathy, "Aw, poor little brat. Here's something to remember your father by." The man threw a long, black overcoat over the boy. The coat had many pockets, and a huge blood stain on the front.

The boy began to cry harder. "Th..th..this is daddy's coat." The man chuckled again. "Correct, brat. Let that smell of your father's blood be a reminder, don't cross the Shadow Company," and in a gust of wind the man was gone.

The boy was still laying there crying when his wandering hand felt into a pocket of the grim coat and pulled out a duel monsters deck. The boy stopped for a moment and finally said. "Daddy, these cards must be the ones you told me about. I promise that I will find a way to revive you, body and soul. I promise you as an alchemist!"

_Present day_

A gentle sea breeze wafted across the docks. It teased the teen's short black hair and long black overcoat. He gazed with his blue eyes at the domed building situated on its own dock. It was a mostly white building but the dome had red, yellow, and blue stripes on it. Across the entrance was a banner that said, "Welcome Central Duel Academy Applicants! Please sign in at the lobby."

The young man entered through the sliding doors and walked up to the reception desk and talked to the girl behind it was wearing a white uniform shirt with no sleeves and yellow trim and yellow miniskirt to match. "I'm Joshua Hirosh and I'm here to take the duel portion of the entrance exam." The girl shuffled through some papers and said, "OK, Mr. Hirosh. But, you're fifteen minutes late."

Joshua lost his previous cool demeanor and anime fell, causing the reception girl to sweat drop. "WHAAAAAAT!?" exclaimed Joshua. He checked his watch and the clock on the wall. "Damn! My watch is late. I knew I shouldn't have used it to support my coffee table!" The receptionist sweat dropped bigger this time.

Just then one of the two doors on either side of the reception desk opened and a beautiful woman walked out. She looked about twenty-five with brown hair that was about shoulder length. She had hazel eyes under small glasses and she was wearing the same uniform as the receptionist. Josh stopped and stared at the "gifted" woman as any man would, until she spoke and brought him back to earth. "What is all the ruckus out here?"

she asked.

"Please, mam, I really need to get into this school. I'll do anything!" replied the panicking teenager. The attractive woman thought for a moment until she finally answered, "OK, you may take the exam. But you must agree to these conditions. First, you will enter at the lowest rank, even if you win. Second, you will duel me. Finally, I will be using my real deck, not an exam deck. Do you agree to the conditions?" Joshua nodded his head desperately. "Good, meet me at arena four in five minutes."

The examination area was a huge stadium. It consisted of hundreds of seats in a circle going very far up around an area of ten duel fields. All the occupants of the stadium were chattering among themselves until a jingle over the intercom indicated an announcement was being made. "Attention. We are sorry for the delay, but there is one more duel to be conducted. Please turn your attention to duel field four so as to watch this duel. Thank you.

Up near the top seats was boy who was about the same age as Josh. He had short, dirty blonde hair and coal black eyes. He was wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform jacket and long, grey dress pants. On either side of him were two burly Obelisk Blue boys and surrounding him was a fandom of girls and suck ups. "Humph," he snorted in an arrogant way, "Why should I have to stick around for some loser who can't even be on time?" His fan club chorused their agreement.

A little below the "popular" teen was girl sitting quite by herself who also looked about Joshua's age. She did not have a uniform yet, but instead wore a plain blue t-shirt and tasteful brown shorts that at her knees. She had short, black hair that hung a little past her ears and pale green eyes. She was drumming her fingers nervously on the seat in front of her. When Joshua entered the arena she started blushing. "_Oh..dear…_"

Near the bottom row of seats sat two boys with the second year Obelisk Blue uniform. One had his feet up on the chair in front of him and appeared to be napping. He had shaggy brown hair and was wearing a black muscle shirt underneath his opened jacket with loose black pants. The other was sitting upright in his seat with his arms crossed. He had a shaved head with a hint of red stubble of hair and cool green eyes. With his buttoned up uniform jacket he had green camouflage pants and black combat boots. The apparently napping one asked, "What's going on, Al?," without even opening his eyes. The one addressed as Al responded, "Not much, Mer, just some late guy some how getting in. I'll alert you if anything interesting happens."

Back in the arena Josh slipped his freshly shuffled deck into its slot in the Academy duel disc he had been issued. "By the way," he began as he disc hummed to life, "What is your name sensei?" The woman responded, "Temari Takasha," as she too slipped her deck into her duel disc. Joshua bowed quickly, "Thank you for dueling me, Takasha-sensei."

"DUEL!" TLP 8000 JLP 8000

"The applicant goes first," Temari stated drawing her first five cards. "Thank you Temari-sensei," responded Josh as he drew six cards. The teen scanned his hand for a moment before he selected a card and slapped it on his disc. "I summon Alchemist Hero Gold Breaker (1500/1300) in attack mode." As Josh said this a brilliant golden light filled the arena. From the light emerged a tall man with blonde hair wearing a thick, golden chest plate that covered his torso and arms and green pants with black boots. On the arms of his armor were two red transmutation circles.

"Mer, you may want to take a look at this," said Al as he shook his companion. Mer sat up and chuckled at what he saw on the duel field. "Well, looks like that other Alchemist set has turned up."

Temari froze in shock for a moment, but quickly regained her composure. "It seems you have some rare cards there." The teen just nodded as he pulled two more cards from his hand. "Now I set two spells or traps and end my turn." Temari pulled her next card out and almost immeadialty played it and a magician with a blue cloak and cowl carrying a staff appeared. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) in attack mode." The professor pulled another card from her hand and slipped it into the disc which made a spell card that showed a magical aura being drained away from the Dark Magician. "I'm also activating a spell card known as Spell Absorption (spell counters 1). Now, every time a spell is activated I gain 500 life points." She pointed at Joshua's monster. "Attack my sorcerer!"

The magician raised his staff which caused purple lightning to fall from the sky toward the Alchemist Hero. Just before the lightning hit one of Joshua's face downs went active to reveal an iron maiden with many vines wrapped around it and a blue transmutation circle on it. "I activate my trap which is called Transmutation of Energy! Here is what happens, when you attack an Alchemist or Alchemist Hero then I can negate the attack and summon a new monster from my deck as long as it is level 4 or below."

The dark lightning disappeared into the iron maiden. The transmutation circle on it began to glow and the device opened to reveal a young woman with a long, silver cloak that partially covered her slim body. She had silver boots, a sliver miniskirt, a silver shirt, silver eyes, and long silver hair that fell to her waist. In her hands was a staff that pictured the kanji symbols of earth, water, fire, and wind. Joshua threw his free hand in the air, "I choose my Alchemist Hero Element Enchantress (1700/400)!" There were a few catcalls from the audience which caused Joshua and his monsters to sweat drop. The Alchemist user coughed nervously before continuing, "Anyway, on to her effect." The kanji on the enchantress' staff began to glow white and four cards shot from the boy's deck to his hand.

"Whenever my enchantress is summoned I get to add one monster each of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind." Temari scoffed, "Whatever, it's not like I don't have a contingency plan." The proctor inserted another card into her disc. "I place one spell or trap face down and end my turn."

The coal-eyed boy was leaning forward in his seat. "I can't believe this guy has an Alchemist set!" One of his burly lackeys grinned stupidly at him. "Don't worry, Roji, he could never beat you." Roji glared at him with murder in his eyes. "What did you call me?" The lackey stepped back and held his hands up in a defensive manner. "I…I…I..meant…Mr. Kimaru. Sorry, sir." Roji sulked back in his seat and snorted, "That's what I thought you said."

Joshua drew his next card and looked at it. He smiled and said, "Well, Takasha-sensei, looks like I win." The woman professor's face distorted in confusion for a moment and then she said, "How? No life points have been lost." Joshua chuckled and only replied mysteriously, "You'll see in a minute, but first I have to activate my Gold Breaker's effect!" The gold armored monster began to shine with a golden light. "By removing him from play I can special summon four monsters from my hand." Temari shouted, "That has to be a broken card!" Joshua shook his index finger at her. "You didn't let me finish. Those monsters all have to be different attributes and I have to surrender half of my life points But, neither of those is a problem since I got four different attribute monsters from my enchantress and I have all my life points." (JLP 4000) "So now, I summon Alchemist Hero Steel Fighter (1800/1800), Alchemist Hero Aqua Hunter (1000/0), Alchemist Hero Dragon Tamer (1400/1150), and Alchemist Hero Storm Rider (1500/1400)!"

The monsters appeared one by one. The first was a young man who looked about 18. He had an earth green martial arts uniform with orange boots, unkempt black hair and steel gloves with green transmutation circles.

The second monster was another young woman who also looked 18. She had sea blue hair that was up in a bun and kept together with chopsticks. She was wearing a blue kimono that pictured various colorful fish and wooden sandals. In her right hand was a long spear with a blue transmutation circle on the head.

The third monster was a handsome man in his thirties with hair that was colored like flames. He wore red armor with a dragon silhouette pictured on it, tight, orange pants, and charcoal colored shoes. He had a whip that was covered in orange transmutation circles.

The last monster was another man in his thirties. This one had spiky green hair and a bird feather behind one ear. He had a grey, tattered cape over a sleeveless grey shirt and baggy blue pants. On the feather behind his ear was a grey transmutation circle.

The proctor raised her eyebrow. "I still don't see how this helps you win." Joshua chuckled yet again. "I'm still not done." He raised his hand towards his monsters. "You see," he continued, "Alchemists and Alchemist Heroes are able to fuse without a fusion card. I can simply remove the monsters I need from play." As he said this a blue transmutation circle appeared beneath Aqua Hunter and Strom Rider.

Both monsters sank into the ground and from the circle emerged a new monster. It was a tall man in his thirties. He had blue and green striped hair that fell to his shoulders and covered one eye. He wore a grey tattered cape on the back of which was a giant blue transmutation circle. Under that was a grey sleeveless shirt and baggy blue pants.

"I fusion summon Typhoon Alchemist (2600/2000)!" proclaimed the teen duelist. "Now I play the spell card Brave Ambush!" The spell card pictured several warriors hiding in the trees with various weapons about to jump out on Roman soldiers. "Before you ask, this card is a little like Brave Attack," explained Josh, "with a difference. It combines all my monsters' attack points for a direct attack, but I have to cut their powers in half."

"Sorry to disappoint you," scoffed Temari, "but your no where near defeating me with that move." "Sorry to disappoint you, but Typhoon Alchemist has a special ability. He blows away the cost of one spell card per turn."

The fusion monster sent out a wave of air making the spell card hologram waver for a moment then regain form. "So now," Josh continued, "all of my monsters get to attack you directly."

Temari gulped, "That will do a lot of damage but you still won't win." Joshua scoffed, "You got me there, or you would were it not for Steel Fighter's special ability. You see, when he attacks my opponent's life points directly he gains 1000 attack points and is destroyed at the end of the turn. But that won't matter because I just won."

All four of the monsters jumped towards the female duelist. Steel Fighter jumped high then slammed his foot into the ground sending rocks flying toward his target. Dragon Tamer cracked his whip in the air to create a storm of fireballs. Element Enchantress held up her staff and summoned a stream of dirt, water, flames, and wind. The final attack came from Typhoon Alchemist, he spun around at high speeds to create a massive storm complete with cracking lightning, fierce winds, and pouring rain. That last attack even forced some members of the audience to hold on to their seats.

As the clouds cleared Temari was revealed to be hunched over, holding her stomach. "Well, Mr. Hirosh," she choked out, "welcome to the Central Duel Academy."

At those words the audience of students and faculty burst out in cheers and applause. Caught up in the excitement Joshua flashed a double victory sign with an ear to ear smile.

The lone girl was among those clapping. "_Oh, Joshua Hirosh. You are so confident and strong a..a..and handsome_." She blushed even at the thought.

Roji Kimaru sulked in his chair and grumbled to himself. "_That guy. He's a threat for my position as Kaiser."_

The two known as Al and Mer were also clapping. "Well, Al, looks like we might get some challenge this year after all," said Mer with a grin. "Indeed, this one seems quite promising," responded Al with a smirk.

From his place in the arena Joshua was still doing victory poses. "_I did it dad. I'm one step closer to finding a way to get you a back. Are you proud of me?_"

Original Card Stats (In order of appearance)

Storm of Meteors/Spell: Destroy all cards on the field and inflict 300 points of damage to each player for every card destroyed

Image: Many meteors falling from the sky and hitting a small village.

Alchemist Hero Gold Breaker/Warrior/Light/4 stars/ATK 1500/DEF 1300/Effect: By removing this face up card on your side of the field from play you are allowed to special summon up to four monsters from your hand. You must also pay half of your life points and all four monsters must have different attributes.

Image: A tall man with blonde hair wearing a thick golden chest plate that covers his torso and arms and green pants with black boots. On each of the arms is a red transmutation circle.

Transmutation of Energy/Trap: When your opponent attacks an 'Alchemist' or 'Alchemist Hero' you may negate the attack. You may also special summon a level four or lower monster from your deck.

Image: An iron maiden with many vines wrapped around it and a blue transmutation circle on it

Alchemist Hero Element Enchantress/Spellcaster/Light/4 stars/ATK 1700/DEF 400/Effect: Whenever this monster is normal, flip, or special summoned you may add 1 monster each of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind from your deck to your hand.

Image: A young woman with a silver cloak that covers her slim body. She has a silver shirt, silver miniskirt, silver boots, silver eyes, and silver hair that falls to her waist. She is holding a staff that pictures the kanji symbols for earth, water, fire, and wind.

Alchemist Hero Steel Fighter/Warrior/Earth/4 stars/ATK 1800/DEF 1800/Effect: Whenever this monster attacks your opponent directly this monster gains 1000 ATK. Destroy this monster at the end of the turn this effect is activated.

Image: A young man of about 18 with unruly black hair. He has a green martial arts uniform with orange boots. On both of his hands are steel gloves with green transmutation circles on them.

Alchemist Hero Aqua Hunter/Warrior/Water/3 stars/ATK 1000/DEF 0/Effect: When this monster is normal summoned you may remove all other monsters on the field from play.

Image: A young woman of about 18 with blue hair held in a bun by two chopsticks. She is wearing a blue kimono that pictures many colorful fish and wooden sandals. Her weapon is a long spear that has a blue transmutation circle on the head.

Alchemist Hero Dragon Tamer/Warrior/Fire/4 stars/ ATK 1400/DEF 1150/ Effect: If this monster is destroyed in battle you may choose to remove it from play to add two 'Alchemist' or 'Alchemist Hero' monsters from your removed from play pile to your hand. You may not choose this card.

Image: A handsome man in his thirties with hair colored like flames. He has red armor with a dragon silhouette on it, tight orange pants, and charcoal colored shoes. In his hands he holds a whip with many orange transmutation circles on it.

Alchemist Hero Storm Rider/Warrior/Wind/4 stars/ATK 1500/DEF 1400/Effect: When this card is removed from play you may choose to return all spell and trap cards on the field to their owner's hands.

Image: A man in his thirties with a bird feather behind one ear. He has a grey, tattered cape over a grey sleeveless shirt and baggy blue pants. On the feather behind his ear is a grey transmutation circle.

Typhoon Alchemist/Warrior/Water/6 stars/ATK 2600/DEF 2000/Fusion/Effect: (Alchemist Hero Aqua Hunter + Alchemist Hero Storm Rider) You may fusion summon this monster by removing the above material monsters on your side of the field from play. Once per turn you may negate the cost of 1 spell card.

Image: A tall man in his thirties with blue and green striped hair that falls to his shoulders and covers one eye. He wears a grey tattered cape with a big, blue transmutation circle on the back. Under that he wears a grey sleeveless shirt and baggy blue pants.


	2. Chapter 2 The Monarch's Challenge

**Due to a suggestion from VyserDragoon you will see a slight change in the writing style used here.**

Chapter 2

The Monarch's Challenge

New students bustled off the ship and up to the academy's main building. Joshua Hirosh walked down the ramp and set foot on the pier. He groaned audibly and readjusted his new red uniform.

"I hate this," he mumbled to himself, "I'm going to have to adapt this to go with my overcoat." He turned his head to the sky. "_I mean, your overcoat, dad._"

Suddenly, Joshua felt a pressure on his back and two arms wrap around his neck. "Oh! It's the hottie!" screamed a female voice in his ear. The pressure was relieved from the Lone Alchemist's back and he could turn around to see his assaulter.

The girl was only slightly shorter than Joshua with long, black hair that fell to the middle of her back. She was wearing the girl version of the Slifer red uniform and a hot pink backpack. She had pale, green eyes. "Um…do I know you?" asked Joshua hesitantly.

"No, hottie, but I know you," replied the girl giving a flirting smile. "My name is Yolei Huga," said the beauty, extending her hand.

Joshua shook her hand. "Say, Yolei-san, do you know where the red dorms are?"

Yolei looked confused. "With your skill I would have thought that you would be in Obelisk."

Joshua sighed again. "It was part of the deal I made with that professor."

Yolei hugged him from the front this time. "Oh! Poor baby!"

Joshua blushed furiously and coughed, "Um…Yolei-san. Would you mind letting go of me now?"

A few minutes later both of the teens stood in line outside of the Red dorms to receive their schedules and PDAs. When they finally got to the front of the line there were two people sitting behind a hastily set up card table surrounded by PDAs and papers.

One was a middle-aged man with a white with red trim version of the red uniform, tired brown eyes, and combed back black hair. The other was a woman who appeared to be roughly thirty who wore the basic red girl's uniform. She had bright and happy blue eyes and shiny red hair pulled back in a bun.

The man, whose name was Professor Uzumaki, provided the schedules. The woman, whose name was Professor Sharlotori, provided the PDAs which contained room numbers.

Both Joshua and Yolei stood to the side of the dorm buildings, which resembled an outhouse with an extra level, checking their room numbers.

"What number do you have, Hottie-kun?" asked the teenage girl.

"My name is Josh, first of all. Second of all I have room 10. What about you?" respond the alchemist duelist

"Wheee! I got room 10 also!" Yolei put Josh in another death hug.

"WHAAAAT!?" screamed Josh. "They room boys and girls together? That seems a little irresponsible." Suddenly he felt like a thousand snipers were aiming at him and turned around to see all the Slifer Red males surrounded by dark auras.

"You would complain you lucky dog," one chimed in "Yeah," another commented, "all the girls are clambering around you and all you can do is whine? You disgust me."

Josh turned in the other direction to see almost all the Slifer Red girls with pink auras and hearts in there eyes. "He's so dreamy," they all sighed.

Josh sweat dropped. "_All this attention could put a damper on my mission._"

Josh and Yolei entered their dorm room to see….a very crappy apartment like space. It was sparsely furnished with a triple bunk bed on one side of the room and a single desk with a hard wooden chair on the other side. Next to the desk were two doors. One turned out to be a closet and the other one was a tiny bathroom with a toilet, sink, and little shower stall. There was also the third roomy. A girl who was the same height as Yolei, had the same eyes, and same color hair that came only a little past her ears.

She stood up from the bottom bunk and opened her mouth to speak until she noticed Yolei who began to squeal and put the other girl in a death hug.

Josh sweat-dropped and thought, "_Does Yolei-san do that to everyone she meets?"_

After their embrace both girls faced the teen boy. "Hottie-kun, this is my cousin, Laurie Huga." Laurie bowed "P..p..pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hirosh-sama."

Josh returned the bow. "Please, call me Josh. If you have to use a superlative Josh-san will do, Laurie-san."

The shy girl blushed and averted her eyes. "_Josh-kun wants me to be informal, and we're sharing a…a…a ro…roo…room_"

"Um…are you going to be ok?" Josh asked to the still day dreaming Laurie.

"She's always doing this," stated Yolei, "we should probably get to freshman orientation."

The main auditorium was packed with the new students of the year, and there was a distinct pattern of seating. The Obelisk Blues sat in the middle column of seats, Ra yellows sat to the left of them, and Slifer Reds sat to the right of them. This wasn't the official seating arrangement; it was just how things had always been.

The various teachers were seated in folding chairs on the main stage behind a large podium. At the podium was a tall, dark haired man who was wearing a version of the uniform that had blue background, yellow trim, and red buttons.

The man at the podium blew on the microphone to get the attention of the chattering students. The resulting screech caused everyone to cover their ears and moan in pain.

"Is this thing on? Sorry about that," the man apologized a smiled sheepishly. "Hello, new students. I am Principal Orion. I just want to go over some ground rules that you may or may not be aware of."

Over on the Slifer side, near the back, Josh, Yolei, and Lorie were seated and listing intently. Actually, Josh was fidgeting in his seat. Lorie noticed and asked about it.

"Josh-kun? Are you alright?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Josh looked at her as if he just noticed her. "Hm? What? Oh, Lorie….no…I'm fine…really," responded the duelist with a friendly smile on his face. "_I just wish I could be out on campus looking for leads. From what I've been able to discern that guy who took my father is here somewhere._"

As the orientation finished the students filed out of the auditorium and streamed into the halls. The three roommates were just getting out when Josh stopped suddenly.

Both girls turned to face him. "Is something the matter, Josh?" questioned Yolei.

Josh stood there blankly for a few moments, seemingly staring at nothing. He shook himself back to reality and replied, "Oh…I just need to…uh…go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." With that he ran off in the direction of the boy's levorotary.

"He was acting awfully strange in the assembly," the short haired girl told her cousin, "Do you think he's ok?"

"I'm sure he's fine," replied the bolder girl, although she didn't sound too sure of herself.

Josh was running down the hall pushing people out of his way and sweating bullets. "_It was him! I saw the red-eyed man!_"

In the bathroom Josh was washing his face in he sink vigorously. "_Damn it all!_" he thought, "_I can't believe I panicked like that!" _Josh splashed some more water on his face. He leaned back against the wall, still panting.

The door squeaking open drew the boy's attention and he saw and young man about his age walk in with the Obelisk Blue uniform coupled with grey dress pants and brown dress shoes. "Hello, Joshua Hirosh."

Joshua's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.

"The whole school knows your name, dumb ass," the boys stated glaring his coal black eyes at Joshua.

"Oh yeah!" Joshua laughed stupidly. "What can I do for you?" he asked turning serious again.

The coal-eyed boy chuckled in an evil way. "I want you to duel me. So that I may crush you as competition for the position of Kaiser."

Joshua just raised his eyebrow and scratched his chin. "Well, number one, I don't care about the Kaiser position. Number two, I don't have time to duel you because I have many things to take care of. Number three; I would kick your can up and down the duel field, so it's not really a challenge."

The other teen snorted. "You would kick my can?" the boy laughed, "Please, you only won your entrance duel because you drew the right cards at the right time. In other words, you won from luck, not skill."

Joshua's voice showed he was getting angry. "Luck is part of skill, you fool! That's the first thing an alchemist and a duelist should learn!"

The Obelisk scoffed again. "So know you think you're an alchemist? Who do you think you are? Edward Elric?" The teen pointed to Joshua. "If you care to see a real duelist in action; meet me in the quad at 9'o clock tonight. Come alone." With that the coal-eyed teen left the bathroom.

Joshua gripped the sides of the sink and glared at himself in the mirror. "_Great, what have I gotten myself into? I can't waste time dueling no bodies. I have to be gathering information!"_

It was 8:58 and a light mist was settling around the quad. The coal-eyed teen stood with his back to the main building with his arms crossed and duel disc at the ready. It was a custom one that was so popular these days. It had the kanji symbols for ice, lightning, stone, and hell fire painted around the main part in that pattern and the tray was a pattern of blue, yellow, brown, and red.

Suddenly, a mysterious figure in a black overcoat approached the cobblestone-paved square from the direction of the Slifer dorms. It turned out to Joshua wearing his father's black coat. He had adapted it to his uniform so that it looked like part of the shirt. The alchemist teen was shuffling his deck as he walked.

As he reached the center of the quad he inserted his deck into its slot making his disc hum to life. "Are you ready?" asked Josh.

"Of course," responded the Obelisk boy who quickly pulled his deck out, gave it a few quick shuffles and inserted it into its slot making his disc click on.

"By the by," Josh commented as he drew his first 5 cards, "I didn't catch your name." (JLP: 8000)

"It's Roji Kimaru. You better remember it, slacker, because I'm going to be the next Kaiser!" stated the Obelisk as he ripped his first 5 cards out plus an extra one, signifying he was going first. (RLP: 8000)

Roji scanned his hand before he selected a card and placed it on his disc. "I will set one monster and call it a turn."

"That's it?" asked Josh as he pulled out his next card with a flourish, "I was expecting something with, you know, oomph." He smiled as he looked at the card he had drawn. "I guess I'll have to make the good moves here. Now, I summon Alchemist Knight Rouge Lancer (1900/1200) in attack mode!"

A red transmutation circle appeared on the field and from it rose a tall knight in blood red armor akin to medieval knights of old. In one hand he held a big, red lance. The monster turned around and nodded to his master before taking a fighting pose.

"OK, now my alchemist attacks that face down monster!" The knight jumped into the air, put out his weapon and dove towards the facedown monster. The card was revealed to be a tiny, green frog with miniature angel wings. It let out a final croak before it took the alchemist's lance to its head and shattered to pixels.

Josh snickered, "What was that? For the future Kaiser I would've thought you'd at least activate a flip effect." He scanned his hand before selecting another card and inserted it into his disc. "I'll set one card and call it a turn."

Roji drew his next card and a horrible grin twisted across his face. "OK, on my standby phase my monster's effect activates," stated the blue duelist.

As he said this a holy light erupted from his graveyard and the little frog remerged on the field in a defensive stance (100/100).

Josh raised his eyebrow. "A shield monster? You play a shield deck?" he questioned.

Roji shook his head in a slow and arrogant manner. "First of all I'll explain my monster's effect. You see, it's called Treeborn Frog and the standby phase after it is destroyed in battle I can revive it to the field as long as I don't have spells or traps out and I don't have another frog out. And I don't intend to use it for a shield," he raised a card from his hand with a dramatic air, "I'm using it as a tribute."

As the little frog disappeared, storm clouds began to gather over the quad. Suddenly, a single bolt of lightning shot from the sky and hit the field. The energy formed into a horrible shape with dirty, silver armor and a strange helmet. The beast roared and caused a few sparks of lightning to shoot from the sky.

The alchemist user took a step back and realized with horror what the monster was. "I summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (2400/1000) in attack mode!" shouted Roji in a fierce voice.

Joshua slapped his fore head. "Damn it all!" he exclaimed with frustration, "I hate monarch decks!"

Roji began to chuckle manically. "So, you know of my strategy. That must mean you know of my monster's ability." The monarch gathered a lightning bolt in his raised fist and threw it towards the lancer. "When my monster is tribute summoned I can destroy 1 monster on the field."

The lightning hit the knight head on and caused him to cry out in agony before shattering. Roji began to laugh insanely.

"Now," he exclaimed, "Zaborg is going to attack you directly!" As this was said the giant put its hands together and formed a wave of electricity that shot directly towards Josh.

As the attack made contact Joshua's life points dropped rapidly (JLP 5600). The monarch user sneered as a back card appeared on his field. "I set a card, your move 'Ed'"

Joshua slowly stood up from his slump and shot Roji a death glare as he drew his next card and glanced at it. He then selected a different card and slapped it on the disc. "I summon Alchemist Knight Verde Pikeman (1800/1600) in attack mode!" he roared.

A green transmutation circle appeared on the field and from it emerged another knight, but this one had forest green armor and a tall, green pike. He stood tall and caused the mist around him to disperse somewhat.

Roji scoffed, "That tin can can't stand up to Zaborg!" But, even as the words came out of his mouth the face down on Josh's side of the field flipped up to reveal six knights in different colored armor about to fight a dragon.

"You spoke too soon!" exclaimed Josh, "I activate Knight's Challenge and here's how it works! I have to have at least 1 Alchemist Knight on the field and 1 in the graveyard. I can then summon the monster in the graveyard in attack mode." The original knight rose from the ground and dusted some dirt off of his armor before shooting Roji a mean look and taking a fighting pose once more.

"Ok, you still can't beat me," Roji snapped, "Check your math."

"I'm still not done," replied Josh, "Damn! Why does everyone interrupt me when I talk? Anyway, by simply removing one of my knights from play I can inflict damage to your life points equal the removed monster's attack. So, I'll ditch my Lancer to deal you 1900 points of damage."

The red knight became nothing but a blood red beam of light that shot from the ground directly at Roji and seemed to slice through the boy like a blade. (RLP 6100)

Then, without warning, a semi-transparent blood red pike appeared and stabbed itself into the heart of the Thunder Monarch causing the titan to shatter.

Before his opponent could protest the alchemist explained, "When my Lancer is removed from play I can destroy one card on our side of the field. Now, your life points are open to my other knight! Verde Pikeman, attack!"

The green knight disappeared for a moment and reappeared right in front of Roji. The monster raised its pike and slashed it across Roji's chest, which caused him to cringe slightly. (RLP 4300)

"I'm not through quite yet!" exclaimed Josh, "When my knight attacks you directly and is successful I can remove him from play to do 1000 extra points of damage!"

The knight began to glow with a bright, green light before it seemingly exploded. The resulting shock sent the Monarch Duelist to the ground. (RLP 3300)

Josh snickered in a cheeky manner. "My second turn and I already have you down to less than half of your life. You know, for someone claiming to be the next Kaiser you are a wuss."

Josh noticed his opponent's shoulder's shaking while he was till hunched on the ground. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry," said the teen with all sincerity, "did I cross the line on the last gloat? Come on, be a man."

Roji stood up to reveal not tears, but a twisted grin. He was laughing in an insane matter.

"Whoa. That is just plain creepy," stuttered Josh shivering. "I set a card and end my turn."

"You…are…a….DEAD MAN!" shrieked Roji as he ripped his next card from his holster. He glanced at it before playing it.

A frightening form appeared. It looked like an animated suit of pitch black armor with a banner on its back that had a picture of an oni in profile. "I summon Monarch Guard Armor in attack mode (1300/1000)!" the teen stated suddenly normal again.

"Dude, what the hell just happened?" asked Josh hesitantly, "You were all, creepy and yelling and now you're calm like nothing happened!"

The other duelist put his hand to his chin bin thought before replying. "I'm afraid I can get…overzealous from time to time. It's in my blood." He looked up to reveal his usually black eyes had become red.

Josh's jaw dropped. He felt dizzy and began to clutch the sides of his head. The teen staggered and fell to his knees.

"Those eyes!" he gasped in a hollow voice, "You have his eyes!"

Roji raised a brow, but then smirked. "Ah, you may be referring to my brother. You see, we are the last of a blood line. A proud line of duelists. We are known for our ruthlessness and power. We want to restore our line. But of course with just the….obvious way….we would never be able to restore the line fully. So we take orders from a certain man. But, enough about me and back to the duel!"

The animated armor began to glow with a purple light and suddenly shattered. "By sending my armor to the graveyard I can special summon a Monarch from my deck and I can activate its ability," stated the still red eyed boy.

Roji's deck spat out a card, which he caught and immediately played it. The ground shook and a massive hole opened up. From it arose another giant beast; this one had goldish brown armor and a full head helmet. When it let out a battle cry the earth shook.

"I summon Granmarg the Rock Monarch!" barked Roji, "Now for his effect, I can destroy one set card one the field. I think I'll go with the one you have!"

The Earth monarch raised one of its titan fists and punched the still fallen Josh's face down, which shattered to pixels.

"Now my monarch, attack that hack directly!" ordered the red-eyed teen.

Granmarg lifted one of its giant feet up and slammed it back down. A huge boulder shot up directly beneath the still cowering Josh and hit him right in the face. The force sent him flying into the air and land a few feet away with a cut lip and black eye. (JLP 3200)

"Those holograms just get realer and realer," sighed Roji mostly to himself. He noticed Joshua was not getting back up. "You alright?" he snickered with false concern.

Josh slowly pulled himself up off the ground still shaking and gasping. He turned his gaze to his opponent. He turned his normally cool blue eyes into piercing stones of ice.

"I want you to tell me what you know about the man with red eyes, NOW!" barked Josh, yelling the last part.

Roji idly picked in his ear with his index finger. "What if I don't feel like it?" he asked in a smug fashion.

"Then I have no choice but to beat it out of you!" the Lone Alchemist growled with venom in his voice.

"Fine, but before you try and fail I'll activate my facedown card," Roji stated. As he did the said card was revealed showing two men in feudal armor clashing swords in what appeared to be a tea house while lookers on ran for cover. "It is a trap called Inappropriate Time for War, and here's how it works. I select one spell from my deck and set it on your side of the field and you do the same to me."

A back card appeared on each side of the field and both players shuffled their decks.

"Now," continued Roji, "these cards can only be activated on the turn of the player who set them by the current controller of the card and every one of the turns you can activate the card that you don't passes you take 500 points of damage."

Josh cocked his head. "That seems pointless. Of course I'll just activate the card the first chance I get. What kind of effect is that?"

Roji smirked. "Well, that would be true, unless the card I set was Monarch Blessing, which increases the user's life points by 1000 points for every card on the field, and can only be activated when the controller has a monarch monster on the field."

Joshua raised both of his eyebrows in shock. "But that means I can't activate it at all since I don't have any monarch cards."

Roji snickered. "That's right! And it appears that the card you gave me was Graceful Charity. So I'll just be able to activate it next turn! Go ahead and make your move."

Josh drew reluctantly and as he did Graceful Charity activated. An angel appeared on Roji's side of the field and bathed him in holy light. He snatched three cards from his deck and slipped two into the grave. All the while he never said a word, only grinned in a fiendishly smug way.

Josh scanned his slimming hand. Before he seemed to realize something and chuckled. "I'm about to end this, you smug, annoying, RED-EYED BASTARD!" He slipped a spell card into its slot to reveal six knights of different colors crossing their various weapons in a brotherly way.

"I activate the spell card, Alchemy of Brotherhood!" exclaimed Josh, "Here's what happens I get to summon an Alchemist Knight from my deck to the field and from the removed from play pile to the field. I choose Alchemist Knight White Swordsman (0/0) from my deck and Verde Pikeman from the removed from play pile!"

A green portal opened up and the green man emerged once more. Also, a white transmutation circle appeared and from it emerged yet another knight. This one was much taller than the first two, almost as tall as the Rock Monarch. He had a massive white broad sword clenched in his hands and shining white armor. The monster let loose with a gallant battle cry and took a stance.

Roji took a step back, but quickly regained his composure. "You had me scared there for a moment," he scoffed, "but it looks like you summoned two incredibly weak monsters for no real reason."

Josh sweat dropped. "Bastard, get with the program. Don't you think my swordsman would have a special ability? Come on! It's common sense!"

The swordsman's weapon began to glow with a powerful light as he raised it into the air and his attack and defense jumped. (3000/3000)

Roji's jaw dropped and he whined, "Wow! How did that happen?"

Josh gave an exaggerated sigh and crossed his arms. "By removing Alchemist, Alchemist Hero, or Alchemist Knight monsters in my deck from play my monster gains 500 attack and defense points for each one removed, and I removed six!"

As both of Josh's monsters took fighting stances the monarch duelist took a step back.

The Lone Alchemist smirked. "Looks like you fear my creatures, that's good. They are reapers of justice and together we will pummel you and your brother to the ground like the insects you are!"

The vengeful teen raised his fist at Granmarg the Rock Monarch. "Go swordsman! Slash that glorified rock pile to ribbons!"

The White Swordsman ran at the monarch and raised his weapon high in the air. When the alchemist monster reached his target he brought his sword down with tremendous force that cut the opposing monster in two. (RLP 2700)

Josh raised his other fist at Roji. "Verde Pikeman attack the bastard directly!"

The green pikeman disappeared once more. Roji braced himself from the front again but the knight appeared behind him this time. He raised his pike and began to bring it down, but a brown puffball with eyes blocked the attack as well as at least a hundred others.

Josh grunted with frustration. "Damn, looks like you discarded Kuriboh. Oh well, I'll get you next turn. Make this one count," said the teen indicating his turn was over. He was covered in a red aura as Roji's trap dealt him damage for not activating his spell card. (JLP 2700)

Roji ripped his next card from the slot without a word, but continued to glare his red eyes at Josh. He glanced at his next card.

_Shoot,_ thought Roji, _I don't have any more monarchs in my hand. But, I do have this card…_

"I'll set one card face down and call it turn," stated the red eyed boy with a hint of desperation.

Josh coolly slipped his next card into his hand. He barely glanced at it before playing it.

"I summon Alchemist Hero Copper Bowman (500/500) in attack mode!"

A silver transmutation circle appeared on the field and from it rose a wild looking man in his mid twenties. He had untamed brown hair that fell to his waist and a bare chest. In fact his only clothing was a red loincloth with a silver transmutation circle. In his hands he held a copper bow with a matching quiver on his back.

"Now, don't you try and activate any traps," said Josh smugly, waggling his finger at Roji, "If you do, all that will happen is Copper Bowman will be removed from play and the trap will be negated."

Roji smirked at his opponent, "Then go ahead and try," he stated smoothly.

Josh's face got red, "OK! Maby I will! White Swordsman attack directly and win me this duel!"

The swordsman once again ran to the other side of the field with his sword raised. However, as he was bringing it down an invisible barrier stopped him.

Josh looked shocked. "What gives? Why didn't bowman's ability kick in?"

Roji indicated his card. It was a trap that pictured the earth from space, but it was on fire and you could see two demonic hands hovering just above the doomed planet.

Roji began to laugh again which caused the redness of his eyes to deepen. That in turn caused Josh to clutch at his head again, although he didn't go down.

The maniacal teen ceased laughing. "This is a peek at things to come, you fool. My trap is called Hope is Lost. You see, it can't be negated by any other card and when you attack when you have more than two monsters on the field, I automatically win."

Josh gasped. "That is such crap! That has got to be illegal!"

Roji chuckled again. "You will see the full extent of my power, and the power of the Shadow Company." Two demonic hands burst from the ground and flew towards the black coated duelist. "But not now, only when the master sees fit."

The hands clutched Josh and began to squeeze him. He felt his ribs cracking. _This is no hologram! _He thought.

Roji turned his back and marched off into the mist. The only thing Josh could hear as his vision faded was "You shall all see."

Card Stats

Alchemist Knight Rouge Lancer/Warrior/Earth/4 stars/ATK 1900/DEF 1200/ Effect: When this face up card on your side of the field is removed from play you may destroy one card on your opponent's side of the field.

Image: A tall knight in blood red armor akin to medieval knights of old. In one hand he holds a big, red lance.

Alchemist Knight Verde Pikeman/Warrior/Earth/4 stars/ATK 1800/DEF 1600/Effect: When this card successfully attacks your opponent directly you may remove this card from play to inflict 1000 extra points of damage.

Image: Another knight, but this one has forest green armor and a tall, green pike.

Alchemist Knight White Swordsman/Warrior/Earth/4 stars/ATK 0/DEF 0/Effect: When you normal, flip, or special summon this monster you may remove Alchemist, Alchemist Hero, and/or Alchemist Knight monsters in your deck from play to increase this monster's ATK and DEF by 500 points for each one removed.

Image: A very tall knight with shining white armor and a white broadsword.

Alchemist Hero Copper Bowman/Warrior/Wind/2 stars/ATK 500/DEF 500/Effect: When your opponent activates a trap card you may remove this monster on the field from play to negate the effect of that card.

Image: A wild looking man in his mid twenties. He has untamed brown hair that falls to his waist and a bare chest. In fact his only clothing is a red loincloth with a silver transmutation circle. In his hands he holds a copper bow with a matching quiver on his back.

Monarch Guard Armor/Fiend/Dark/4 stars/ATK 1300/DEF 1000/Effect: You may send this face up card from the field to the graveyard to special summon 1 "Monarch" monster from your deck to the field. You may activate the effect of the summoned monster immeadialty.

Image: An animated suit of pitch black armor with a banner on its back that has a picture of an oni in profile.

Monarch Blessing/Spell: You may only activate this card while you control a "Monarch" monster. Increase your LP by 1000 points for each card on the field.

Image?

Alchemy of Brotherhood/Spell: You may special summon 1 "Alchemist Knight" from your deck to the field and 1 from your removed from play pile to the field.

Image: Six knights of different colors crossing their various weapons in a brotherly way.

Knight's Challenge/Trap: You may activate this card when you have 1 "Alchemist Knight" on the field and 1 in the graveyard. Special summon the 1 in the graveyard to the field. You may then remove 1 of the monsters from play to inflict damage to your opponent's LP equal to the removed monster's ATK.

Image: Six knights in different colored armor about to fight a dragon.

Inappropriate Time for War/Trap: Both you and your opponent select a spell card from your respective decks and set them on the opposite player's side of the field. That card can only be activated by the controller of the card on the original owner's turn. Every turn that passes where the card can be activated but isn't, the controller loses 500 LP.

Image: Two men in feudal armor clashing swords in what appears to be a tea house while lookers on run for cover.

Hope is Lost/Trap: Activate only when your opponent attacks when he/she has more than two monsters on the field. You may claim an automatic victory. This card may not be negated by the effects of other cards.

Image: The earth from space, but it is on fire and you can see two demonic hands hovering just above the doomed planet.


End file.
